It's Raining Glitter

I've been calling this my raining glitter mani so I decided to use that for the title. I wanted to do something a bit different than the usual glitter tips that naturally happen when I break out the glitter.



So, I decided to flip the glitter from tip to cuticle and drag it down my nails in lines ... or 'rain'. My sister has taken a liking to these nails so I'll probably be doing them again soon on a different set of nails. :)

This mani uses two coats of White on White from China Glaze as a base for the neon. The neon is Color Club's Mrs. Robinson. I used two coats but seeing the pictures, and the white showing through near the tips, I realize I should have used three or maybe even four coats. The glitter is Wet n Wild Kaleidoscope.

This picture isn't the best quality but it was taken in full sunlight and shows Mrs. Robinson more true to color than shown in the first two pictures.

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Neon Sunbeams

I'M BAAACK!!! Well, I've been back for a week but I needed time to mourn the loss of the beach. I missed it horribly this week. Gasp, I didn't even want to do my nails this week! However, that's over with, and I'm ready to get back into my usual posting schedule. I have a few nail designs saved up for you but I want to share my beach nails in this post. The design for this post was inspired by Neon Rays by Chloe's Nails. I thought they were the perfect nails to arrive at the beach with. And these nails are amazingly easy to do. The hardest part was actually cutting the tape since I don't own any striping tape.

I'm not sure where the idea came from, I remember reading it on a blog somewhere, but the easiest way to cut the tape is to take a strip of the tape and place it on a sheet of wax paper. That way the tape doesn't stick to your scissors and you can get nearly perfect 'beams' every time. Simply peel them off once your base polishes are dry and create the beam pattern. I used the fairly standard beam pattern but you could turn the beams around, do different beam patterns on different nails or even do something else like zigzags.

Speaking of the base polishes, you gals should know by now that I always use two (or more) coats of white to make the neons pop. This time I used two coats of China Glaze White on White. The neon polishes are China Glaze Sun Worshiper, Color Club Yell-Oh! (which looks slightly green to me and these pictures agree), and Funky Fingers Kingston. I didn't do or use anything special to get the polishes lined up on my nails. I tried using a nail art brush but they were simply too small to work with so I used the polish brush and carefully painted stripes on either side of my nail and finished with a stripe down the middle. These colors took two coats and I was extra careful with the final coat to touch up any mistakes I made with the first. It may sound daunting and there is a moment of panic before you begin (how could such a large brush make three lines without overlapping horribly?) but it's really not once you start! Trust me! You will want to be careful with the wider brushes such as some of the Sally Hansen brushes and the Wet n Wild Pro brushes. If you just have to use one of these brushes try tipping the brush in it's side. That will give you a slimmer brush to work with.

Let your base polishes dry. You can add a top coat before taping for extra protection against chips and bleed through and also to give a smoother finish if you like. After your polishes are dry simply tape your pattern. Make sure the tape lays flat and remember to fold the ends of the tape over your nail tips and work it into the creases of your fingers. Coat your nail (and the tips of your nail between the tape) in your top polish. I chose black but again it doesn't have to be black. Once you have your top polish on immediately remove your tape. I use a pair of tweezers to grasp the tape (less messy and a smaller chance of smudging already completed nails) and get best results when I pull the tape slowly and smoothly back over my nail from the tip ... much like waxing in slow motion. :)

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Neon Splatter

If there's one thing I love it's neon nail polish. I really don't think there's much better ... except maybe neon splatter nails!!!

Splatter nails create such a unique look for your nails. You'll never get the same design twice even if you use the same polishes. And, all told, they're really not that hard to do. All you need is polish, a piece of paper, some tape (for easier cleanup), and a straw. Tape around your nails, drop some polish onto a piece of paper, dip your straw into the polish and blow in one hard puff over your nail. Be sure to keep the piece of paper under your hand so you don't ruin your workstation. This may not always get a splatter but just keep trying until your straw picks up enough polish.

My problem with splatter nails? I don't know when to quit! I just keep adding more and more splatters until my base polish is practically covered and the splatters are everywhere. I think I managed to reign myself in more than usual with this splatter, but there's still a lot of them.

My right hand is less covered with splatter, but I did have a major drip on my middle finger and couldn't manage to get very many on my ring finger. Also, I somehow managed to smudge the polish on my index nail. I have no idea how. One moment it was fine and then next it was bunched. There was simply no fixing it.

And here you can see the thumb of my right hand. It has a good splatter pattern and managed to get a good splatter of each color.

Overall, I think this turned out really great. I definitely want to do more neon splatter nails. I'm thinking Sun Worshiper would make an amazing base color.

Polishes Used

Color Club - Yell-Oh!

Color Club - Mrs. Robinson

Funky Fingers - Kingston

China Glaze - Sun Worshiper

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2012 Color Club Blossoming Swatches!!!!

Morning guys! Yesterday when I got home from work, I was so excited to see the new collection, Blossoming, from Color Club waiting for me!Kim from Color Club sent them to me so I could show you guys.

These are all 2 coats :) Diamond Drops is part of the collection, and I did do 1 coat over each color so you could see. I must say, I'm really impressed with Diamond Drops. I was afraid it would be thick, and feel chunky when I had it on my nails, but not at all!!

Hydrangea Kiss (excuse the way my camera insisted to change my skin color)

with Diamond Drops

Sweetpea

with Diamond Drops

Blushing Rose - This is my 2nd favorite of them all. I just love the soft girly pinks!

with Diamond Drops

Lavendarling

with Diamond Drops

 and for my FAVORITE of them all, Blue-Ming. It was actually the fave with me, Jack, Chloe and my mom. I even wore it for my mani today :) Oh and of course, I accidentally deleted the other pics I had of it :(

with Diamond Drops

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2012 Color Club the NEW Blossoming Collection

Introducing the new Blossoming collection from Color Club!

Rich Color Has Bloomed & Everything is Coming up Couture

" With the beautiful budding flowers of the season as an inspiration, rich color has bloomed! Add Diamond Drops topcoat for a "morning rain-kissed" effect. Blossoming features six nail polishes - from Hydrangea Kiss, Sweetpea and Blue-ming to Blushing Rose and Lavendarling. This new vegan, formaldehyde, toluene and DBP-free collection is sure to signal spring is in the air... or blossoming. "

The Blossoming Collection includes:

Hydrangea Kiss: Dusty blue-purple creme

Sweetpea: Rosy Pink creme

Blue-ming: Bright blue-green creme

Blushing Rose: Baby pink creme

Lavendarling: Dusty purple creme

Diamond Drops: Silver ice flake polish

This collection is available now and can be purchased HERE.

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